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Boise, Idaho
08-10-14, 2007:
After a March Meet runner-up and semi final finish at the 2007
Boise Nightfire Nationals, Jim Murphy leads the AAFD 2007 Points
standings. With three points races to go Murphy is locked in
a race with Brett Harris, Adam Sorokin, Brad Thompson and Howard
Haight for the first ever AAFD Top Fuel Championship title. The
WW2 Racing Team decided to pass on the next points race at Mission,
Canada and focus on the Governors Cup at Sacramento in September
and the California Hot Rod Reunion in October. Says Murphy, "We
are disappointed not being able to attend the Mission race as
the times will be stout there but feel fortunate the point chase
consists of the best four out of five races".
Backing up to
the Nightfire Nationals, in the final session of qualifying on
Saturday Murphy set a new Firebird Raceway record with an outstanding
5.836 at 248 MPH. but one pair later Brad Thompson took it away
with a 5.832. These runs were particularly impressive as the
temperature at Boise was in the 90's and the track was a toasty
130+ degrees leaving them with a corrected altitude of 6500’.
Eliminations
on Sunday started at 3:00 PM at it was hot! With track temps
at 140 degrees many of the 16 cars in contention had major problems
staying hooked up and in the groove. Murphy was paired with Shannon
Stewart for round one and it was an exciting match up to say
the least. For the first time all weekend Murphy smoked the tires
and drifted toward the centerline but managed to petal the car,
reel it in and still clock 6.368 at 236.84 for the win. As ugly
as Jim's run was Stewart's was way worse. At mid track he got
out of the groove and stayed in it a tad too long and smacked
the right guardwall hard enough to damage the car beyond repair.
Lucky he stayed on all fours and was unhurt.
On a cooler track
for round two Murphy clocked a 5.976 at 243.11 to beat Jason
Richey who had problems and shut off early. This left a semi-final
match up with young gun, Adam Sorokin who ran strong all weekend.
Both cars left hard and it was a close race until Murphy had
the front end start coming up at 400 feet, the car moved out
of the groove and got loose forcing him to pedal it. With Sorokin
clocking a stellar 5.858 at 253.95 there was no chance of Murphy
catching him so he shut off to a 6.389 at 170.74.
Photos
and full story below.
The first qualifying session was not
scheduled until Friday evening so after the pit was set up most
of the day was pretty laid back.
Friday - Qualifying
Session One
After
extensive track clean up and prep the first session went off
at 7:30 PM Friday evening. Here Murphy heats the tires for his
first shot of the weekend at Boise's track.
Dave
Thornhill guides Murphy back from the burnout.
Paired
with Mendy Fry, Murphy left like a rocket and carded a very nice
5.99 at 233.46. It was the only five second run of the session.
Saturday - Qualifying
Session Two
Session
two went off at 3:30 Saturday afternoon and it was HOT. 88 degrees
with at track temp of 130. Not ideal conditions but it would
be the closest to what race conditions would be on Sunday.
Thornhill
guides Murphy into the groove Tim Beebe wants the car to run
in.
Final
adjustments are made before Murphy move into the staging beams
(below).
At
the hit the front wheels yanked up and the car left even harder
than it did is the first session.
Hooked
up solid to the 800' mark the car started spinning the tires
but still improved to a 5.97 at 234. This would leave Murphy
in the # 3 spot after two sessions.
After
the run the crew serviced the engine and got the car ready for
session three on Saturday evening.
Saturday - Qualifying
Session Three
Session three on Saturday
evening found the air a bit cooler and track tighter. Everyone
expected some big numbers and that's what they got. The 5 yr
old track ET record was broken twice and 10 of the 16 got their
best qualifying times.
With the sun starting
to set, the car is towed into the staging lanes.
In this final session Murphy and Mike McClennan did
side-by-side burnouts.
Taking full advantage
of the cooler air Murphy ripped off a stunning 5.836 at 248.07.
This broke the five year old track ET record for Top Fuel and
moved Murphy to the top of the field.
*Amazingly in the next
pair Brad Thompson re-broke the record with a 5.832. He would
end up # 1 with Murphy # 2.
Final
Top Fuel Qualifying Order
1. Brad Thompson
- 5.832 @ 247.11
2. Jim Murphy - 5.836 @ 248.07
3. Troy Green - 5.914 @ 241.05
4. Jack Harris - 5.930 @ 251.04
5. Brett Harris - 5.947 @ 249.44
6. Adam Sorokin - 5.967 @ 220.10
7. Rick White - 6.011 @ 256.04
8. Scott Mason - 6.029 @ 234.80 |
9. Rick
McGee - 6.041 @ 239.29
10. Jason Richey - 6.043 @ 246.57
11. Mike McClennan - 6.086 @ 237.90
12. Howard Haight - 6.139 @ 227.90
13. Mark Malde - 6.242 @ 215.93
14. Mendy Fry - 6.243 @ 228.71
15. Shannon Stewart - 6.264 @ 213.21
16. Rick Rogers - 6.277 @ 233.10 |
Sunday - Eliminations
Round One
First round of eliminations went off at 3:00 Sunday
afternoon and the temperatures were in the high 90's - 10 degrees
hotter than the two previous day. The track temp was 140+ degrees
- not great for fuel dragsters. By virtue of qualifying positions
Jim Murphy and Shannon Stewart paired up.
Murphy
moves into stage.
The car left good but within 30' the tires started
to haze and were smoking big time by the 60' clock. This was
the first hint of tire smoke Murphy had all weekend and all agree
it was the brutal track temperature that didn't like the tune-up.
Murphy
drifted toward the centerline but managed to petal the car, reel
it in and still clock 6.368 at 236.84 for the win. As ugly as
Jim's run was Stewart's was way worse. At mid track he got out
of the groove and stayed in it a tad too long and smacked the
right guardwall hard enough to damage the car beyond repair.
Lucky he stayed on all fours and was unhurt. Murphy dodged a
bullet and moved on to round two.
Between rounds the crew
did their normal servicing of the car.
Sunday - Eliminations
Round Two
The cars head down the
staging lanes to the starting line. The air had cooled
a few degrees but still very hot.
Gets suited up and climbs
in.
Waiting to do battle while the track is cleaned and
prepped.
Paired with Jason Richey, Murphy does his burnout.
Compensating for the
track temp, this time there wasn't a hint of tire smoke.
Murphy left first and
never looked back carding the 5.976 at 243.11 win. Richey shut
off early to a 7.286 at 133.37.
Less than 10 minutes
after the run the car is back to the pits and the crew jumps
into action to get it ready for round 3.
With the car in capable
hands, Tim (Beebe) and Jim (Murphy) go over the graphs from the
onboard data computer.
Sunday - Eliminations
Semi-Finals
The semi-finals finally
went off around 9:00 PM and the track was much cooler but the
left lane was somewhat suspect.
Jim
Murphy met Adam Sorokin to see who would go to the final. Both
cars left hard and it was a close race until Murphy had the front
end start coming up at 400 feet. The car made a hard move out
of the groove and got loose forcing him to pedal it. With Sorokin
clocking a stellar 5.858 at 253.95 there was no chance of Murphy
catching him so he shut off to a 6.389 at 170.74.
All in
all it was a good weekend as they qualified well, went to the
semis and moved into first place in the points chase. Better
yet, the engine was happy and parts damage was minimal to say
the least. Murphy and crew are looking forward to their next
outing, the Governors Cup at Sacramento Raceway.
See the WW2
Racing Schedule for upcoming events
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